Brick molding apparatus for incorporating metal inserts in refractory bricks



United States Patent" -3,072,99s BRICK MOLDING APPARATUS FOR INCORPO- 4RATING METAL INSERTS IN REFRACTORY BRICKS Alfred McGill, La Chute,Quebec, Canada, assignor to .I-Iarbison-Walker Refractories Company,Pittsburgh,

Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 13, 1960, Ser. No. 21,950

9 Claims. (Cl. 25-41) This invention relates to apparatus forincorporating metal inserts in refractory bricks.

It is common practice to incorporate a metal insert 01' member in arefractory brick. Such metal member may comprise aportion of a metalcase for the brick, a reinforcing insert, a positioning or hangermember, or the like. Usually, the metal insert is applied in properposition to the body of brick mix in the mold just prior to or at theinitiation of the pressing step. Not only is it necessary to take stepsto ensure that the metal insert is properly positioned relatively to thebrick mix body but also it is necessary to interrupt the pressingoperation to permit positioning of the insert.

. It isan object of this invention to provide apparatus forincorporating metal inserts in refractory bricks which is of a simpleand inexpensive nature, which-"ensures-ac'e curate positioning of theinsert in the brick, and-which is. directly'responsive to the pressingstep whereby no-interruption of. the pressing operation is required.

The invention involves producing refractory bricks in which a 'body ofbrick mix is charged into a mold by movement of .a charging drawer, andthe body of brick mix is subjected to a pressing operation by movementof an upper ram or'of upper and lower rams, and broadly resides in thestep of mechanically holding a metal insert over said body of brick mixand out of contact with and are of rubber, the finger said upper ramfollowing said charging step and before said pressing operation wherebydownward movement of said upper ram will entrain said metal inserttherewith and deposit said metal insertin said body of brick mix.

The invention further comprises, in combination with a mechanical orhydraulic .brick molding apparatus having a-mold, a charging drawerlaterally reciprocable over said mold to deposit a charge of brick mixtherein, and upper and lower pressing rams engageable with saidcharge,at leastcne arm carried laterally by and in adyance of saidcharging drawer, an insert-supporting swingablefingercarried by saidarm, said finger inone position of said drawer being suspended over saidmold. and in the path of movement of said upper ram, and said fingerhaving swinging movement thereon by said upper ram. 'l'he invention willbe described with reference to..the accompanying'drawing,in-whichr- 1 vFIGURE-1 is -a-plan view-of-apparatus in accordance with the-invention,taken online- I-"-I, FIG. 2, FIGURE 2 is a-sectional endelevation, I FIGURE 3 is a sectional side elevation III--III of FIGURE1, and

FIGURE 4 is a partial end elevation illustrating a modified form of theinvention.

In the drawing, there are illustrated in somewhat diagrammatic form theelements of a conventional brickforming machine including a mold table1, a press charging drawer 2 slidably mounted on the table 1 andarranged to receive from a source, not shown, a supply of the mix fromwhich the brick is to be formed, a mold 3 over which the drawer 2 isadapted to be moved, by any suitable means, to deposit a body of mix 4in the mold, a lower ram 5 on which the body of mix is deposited, and anupper ram 6. It will be apparent that the rams 5 and 6 are 'movable in avertical path, the upper ram taken on line in response -to pressure I itwill engage the insert and and uniform positioning of the insert on thefingers.

6 entering the mold to compress between it and the lower ram the body ofmix and thereby press it into brick form. If desired the lower ram maybe fixed, with only the upper ram being reciprocated.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a pan of brackets 7 arefixed to the forward wall of the press charging drawer 2 and extendforwardly therefrom. The brackets 7 are spaced above and parallel to thesurface of table 1, and they are equidistantly spaced from the centerline of the mold cavit Moreover, the distance between the brackets issomewhat greater than the length of the mold cavity.

Mounted on each bracket 7 is an arm 8 projecting inwardly from thebracket and, as shown, in generally right angularrelation thereto.Preferably, each arm mounting is of adjustable nature whereby theeffective length of the arm may be adjusted according to the length ofthe insert being used. As shown, such mounting may comprise a pair ofbolts 9 which extend through slots 10 in the bracket. The arms 8 are inlongitudinally aligned relation.

Projecting inwardly from the inner end of each arm' 8 and carriedthereby is a finger 11 of resilient flexible rr'ia'ter'ial's'u'ch asrubber, rubber composition, synthetic plastic composition, or springmetal. In the modification illustrated, the arm and finger are ofintegral form 11 being of reduced cross sectional area in relation tothat of the arm. A shoulder 12 is thus formed on the end of the arm oneach side of the finger. It will be apparent that the fingers 11 arealso in alignment.

The illustrated position of the press charging drawer 2 is itspredetermined conventional retracted position, i.e., the position itassumes at the end of its retraction stroke immediately following itscharging stroke. It will be observed from FIG. 3 that in thisposition'of the draw er the fingers 11 overlie the mold cavity in spacedrelation thereabove and below the upper ram. I The exact position of thefingers 11 relative to the mold' cavity is dependent upon the relativeposition of themetal insert with respect to the body of the brick to beformed. In the example illustrated, the fingers 11 are positioneddirectly above the central area of the body of the brick mix in thecavity. Further, in the example i1: lustrated, a channel shaped metalinsert member 13 is to be applied toa longitudinal face of the brick andsymmetrically positioned with respect to the edges thereof. Inoperation, therefore, an insert 13 is placed on the fingers 11 at an'yconvenient time prior to or at its arrival at the fully retractedposition shown in FIG. 3. It will be observed that the shoulders 12 willaid in the accurlalte insert 13 is thus now suspended onthe fingersbetween the body of brick mix in the mold and the upper ram 6 anddirectly in the path of the ram on its downward pressing stroke. As theram 6 moves downwardly in such stroke, carry it down into the moldcavity to apply it in desired position on the face of the brick, thefingers 11 flexing downwardly to permit disengagement of the inserttherefrom. As the ram continues its downward stroke the pressing of thebrick will be accomplished with concurrent association of the insertwith the brick. It will be apparent that the fingers 11, beingresilient, will assume their normal undistorted positions followingdisengagement by ram 6 during its upward stroke for reception of anotherinsert and repetition of the cycle described.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a somewhat modified form of the invention wherein,instead of each resilient finger 11, a finger 14 of rigid metal isemployed. Each finger 14 is hinged to a supporting arm 15 (correspondingto the arm 8 in the previously described modification) by means of aspring-loaded hinge 16 of conventional type and which normally holds thefinger in substantial alignment with 15 but which permits downwardswinging movement thereof in response to predetermined pressure thereon.It will be understood that the spring-loading of hinge 16 is ofsufiicient strength to restrain movement of the finger when the metalinsert 13 is placed thereon. It however, be apparent that, on engagementof the 7 ram in its downward stroke, fingers 14 will swing downwardly topermit disengagement of the insert therefrom. The spring-loaded hinges16 will return the fingers 14 to their normal positions followingdisengage- 'ment by the ram during its upward stroke.

One of the greatest benefits of the invention is the op- I metal elementwith a refractory brick without the hazards involved in prior methods.Heretofore, the workmen manually placed the metal element inpositionduring the course of, travel of the upper ram. Many injurieshave resulted from that; practice. Another method which has been used tosome extent is to magnetically susp nd the metal insert from the upperram. However, it has been found difficult to feed the metal inserts tothe upper ram because it is always poised over the mold box. Therefore,in each of those methods the press has been stopped momentarily to allowthe positioning of the metal element. g t In this invention the usualpractice will be to place the insert on the fiexible fingers when themold is being ehargedand the fingersare well in advance of the mold box.Thus it can be seen that manually feeding of the inserts onto thefingers can be donewithout the interrup tion of the press cycle whichsafety has dictated for prior methods. Also, a mechanical ffeedingapparatus can easily be installed for positioning the insertsfaster thana workman is able to do. Hence,this invention enables the manufacture ofrefractory brick with metalinserts more safely and more rapidly thanwith the methods prac-' ticed heretofore. v H y According to theprovisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the A v v lustratedand described what I now considerto represent its best embodiment.However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of theappended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than asspecifically illustrated and described, 7 v

The embodiments of the invention in which an exelusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows. 7

1. In a brick molding apparatus having a table, a mold therein arrangedto receive a charge of brick mix and a downwardly movable pressing ramengageable with said charge, means for incorporating a metal insert insaid charge comprising a pair of insert carrying flexible resilientfingers, means supporting said fingers over said table but separate fromsaid ram for lateral reciprocal movement over and away from said mold,said fingers in one position of said supporting means being suspendedbetween s'aidmold and said upper ram.

i 2. A metal insert incorporating device as defined in elaim 1, saidsupporting means comprisinga pair of rigidly mounted arms; one of saidfingers being mounted in each of said arms', said fingers being inlongitudinal alignment;

3. A metal insert incorporating device es defined claim 2, each saidfinger being adjustable in a direction towards and away from the otherof said fingers.

4. In a brick molding apparatus having a table, a mold in said table, apress charging drawer laterally reciprocable onjsaid table over saidmold. to deposit a charge ofbrick mix therein, and a verticallyreciprocating upper pressing ram engageable with said charge, a devicefor incorporating a metal insert in said charge which com= prises atleast one bracket carried by said charging drawer, and a metalinsert-supporting flexible resilient fin'ger carried by said bracket,said finger one p'osition of said, drawer being in suspended relationover said mold and in the path of movement of said upper ram, saidfin'ger having flexing movement in response to pressure thereon by saidupper ram. 7 g a 5. In a brick molding apparatus having a table, a moldin said table, a press charging drawer laterally reciprocable on saidtable over said mold to deposit a charge of brick mix therein, andvertically reciprocating upper and lower pressing rams engageable withsaid charge, a device for incorporating a metal insert in said chargewhich comprises a pair of spacedrigid brackets fixed to and extendingforwardly from said drawer, and a metal insert-supporting flexibleresilient finger carried by each said bracket, said fingers beinginspaced longitudinal alignment, said fingers in one position ,of,said,drawer being in suspended relationover said mold and in the path ofmovement of said upper ram. f i

, 6 A metal insert incorporating device. as, definedin claim 5, eachsaid bracket having an arm laterally, ad justably mounted thereon, eachsaid finger being fixed to one of said arms.

7. A metal insert incorporating, device ,as defined in claim ,6, eachsaid arm being integral with said finger fixed thereto. v p

8. A metal insert incorporating device as defined in claim .7, each saidarm and finger being formed of rubber. 9. In a brick molding apparatushaving a table, a mold therein arranged toreceive a charge of brick mixand a downwardly movable pressing ram engageablewith said charge, meansfor incorporating a metal insert in said charge comprising a pair ofinsert carrying fingers;- spring means urging said fingers into insertsupporting position and permitting swinging movement of said fingersinto insert releasing position in response to a pro determined pressurethereon, means supporting said fingers over said table but separatefromsaid ram for lateral reciprocal movement over and away from said mold,said fingers in one position of said supporting means being suspendedbetween said mold and said upper ram.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,809,601 Porter June 9, 1931 2,247,3 6 fil i Y L 12 2,583,597 RynerJan. 29, 19 52 2,652,793 Heuer et al. Sept. 2 2, 1953 2,888,731 McElroyet al. June 2, 1959

1. IN A BRICK MOLDING APPARATUS HAVING A TABLE, A MOLD THEREIN ARRANGEDTO RECEIVE A CHARGE OF BRICK MIX AND A DOWNWARDLY MOVABLE PRESSING RAMENGAGEABLE WITH SAID CHARGE, MEANS FOR INCORPORATING A METAL INSERT INSAID CHARGE COMPRISING A PAIR OF INSERT CARRYING FLEXIBLE RESILIENTFINGERS, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID FINGERS OVER SAID TABLE BUT SEPARATE FROMSAID RAM FOR LATERAL RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT OVER AND AWAY FROM SAID MOLD,SAID FINGERS IN ONE POSITION OF SAID SUPPORTING MEANS BEING SUSPENDEDBETWEEN SAID MOLD AND SAID UPPER RAM.